Let the Game Begin!
by adrogoz
Summary: Four powerful beings meet to continue an eternal feud, but an eternity of battle and reincarnation has left them able to see the outcome of every strategy. To settle their feud, they conduct a tournament for beings across many worlds. Entrants chosen by readers
1. Too many times

Let the Game Begin!

"You finally made it then, did you?" said the old man in the hooded cloak. "I was beginning to worry no-one else was coming…

The heavy footfall of the black-armoured, crowned warrior was all but unheard amidst the lightning that struck around the mountain. He reached for a heavy spiked mace at his belt, but the old man raised a hand, an unearthly red glow emanating from his outstretched fingers. "You needn't resort to violence so soon, Conqueror", he said. "Too many of our meetings of late have ended in bloodshed…"

"Spare me the transparent farce of negotiation, Conjuror", said the Conqueror, his hand on the mace but not yet drawing it. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't simply crush you".

"Very well", said the Conjuror. "The reason you should not "simply crush me", as you say, is because we both know how things will end if you do".

The Conqueror paused. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it was true. No matter how this played out, if he made the first move…

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a battle cry from behind him. The Conqueror sighed, drawing the mace and turning in time to block a sword strike from a young man in a white tunic with a single iron pauldron protecting his shoulder.

"Give it up, boy!" snarled the Conqueror.

"Never!" shouted the young swordsman. "I will not rest until…"

He was interrupted as two circles of light appeared on the ground beneath him and the Conqueror, rooting their feet to the ground.

"Stay out of this", growled the Conqueror. "This boy and his irritating feud with me are none of your concern!"

"If only that were the case", said the Conjuror. "Look closely at his sword and tell me if it looks familiar…"

The Conqueror looked at the sword and saw a marking on the hilt. "Warrior", he said angrily. "I should have known".

"Quite", said a voice. Out from behind one of the many pillars surrounding the area stepped a man dressed in a colourful ensemble that looked like that of a jester or harlequin. "This boy is actually the latest incarnation of our dear old friend the Warrior – not that he remembers his past lives yet. It looks like the gang's all here".

"Trickster", said the Conqueror. "You planned all this didn't you…"

"Not all of it", said the Trickster with a smirk. "I only helped things along…"

"What are you talking about?" demanded the boy, swiping uselessly with his sword. On the fifth swing, the blade glowed blue, slicing through an invisible barrier and freeing him from the Conjuror's spell.

"So, it's starting to come back to you, is it?" said the Trickster. "You remembered the powers of your sword, for one thing".

New memories rushed to the surface of the Warrior's mind. Countless lifetimes, and in every one, he had the same sword, the same shield, and the same three beings in thousands of forms, sometimes enemies, sometimes allies. In some, he remembered all his past lives before the rest. In some, he never remembered them at all.

"I remember… other lives…" began the Warrior. "But even so…"

From nowhere, the Trickster pulled a large red kiteshield with an emblem resembling a golden dragon and threw it to the no-realised Warrior.

"You had his shield and you simply gave it back to him?" said the Conqueror, shocked.

"We've done this so many times", said the Trickster. "So many, in fact, that none of us can make the first move. As Conjuror already so eloquently said, we know what will happen, simply because it has already happened so many times before".

He drew a shining silver pistol and pointed it at the Conqueror. "For example, if I were to shoot the Conqueror right here and now, it would leave cracks in his armour that would kill him on a second shot, a fact I would never get to enjoy because he could have my head off before I could fire a second shot. Later on, one of the others would take advantage of this weakness and finish him off, only to leave the conclusion to Warrior versus Conjuror, but it serves me no advantage because I'm already dead by this stage. I could shoot the Warrior or Conjuror instead, or wait for a more opportune moment, but any plan I try will have at least one of you able to counter it. And given you've seen it all before any opportunity to thwart my plans will be taken as soon as it's available. Before we all have our memories back, this game is perfectly winnable. But after we're all here, all knowing our place in this eternal feud…"

"That is the way of things", said the Conjuror. "But it seems it cannot be helped. As in every life before, we all have our personal grudges to settle in this life. And how else can we settle them?"

"I propose we do things a little differently this time", said the Trickster. "Play a different game that we don't all know the outcome of…"

"What kind of "game"?" asked the Conqueror.

"Simply put, we each select sixteen beings remembered from our countless previous incarnations, and have them compete in a grand tournament", said the Trickster. "The winner will be granted one wish, while whichever one of us summoned them can do what he wishes with the souls of the other three. Cast them into the void to be born again, destroy them, consume them… whatever you wish…"

"It cannot be as simple as that", said the Conjuror. "Under those conditions, the Warrior is at a distinct disadvantage, as his skills cannot be put to use in such a tournament".

"Quite right", said the Trickster, throwing each of them a small bundle of cards. "Each of these cards grants their user an opportunity to interact with this tournament once. Two of them correspond to each of our two recurring items; Warrior's Sword and Shield, Conqueror's crown and armour, Conjuror's staff and cauldron and my own pistol and deck of cards – or at least, the one card I have left after giving you the rest. Using these cards will allow you to lend one of your tools to one of your combatants. The third card of each set allows you to pry one combatant from an adversary – from that point on, that combatant shall be treated as yours, and victory will go to you if they win the tournament. Fourth is a card that allows you to take direct control of one of these combatants, possessing them. Regardless of this card's use, winning the tournament in the body of another still grants victory to the one who summoned them, so it is perhaps best used on your own choices. And finally, the fifth card grants its user the opportunity to rearrange the tournament battles, swapping two sets of opponents".

"I'll accept those terms", said the Conqueror. He had some good ideas who to summon already.

"I shall also accept", said the Conjuror. "At least your potential trickery is on the table where I can see it this time.

"Fine by me", said the Warrior.

Trickster smirked. "If that's the case, let the game begin!"

_**And that's the premise in a nutshell.**_

_**This story will feature many characters from various series. However, like in another story of mine, the combatants were chosen by the readers. **_

_**Apologies if you wanted to submit anyone, but the roster is now full. I did however receive a submission from one person who clearly didn't read the "four characters only rule", so I will allow anyone who still wants some input to choose from amongst their character choices. The options are Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach), Monkey D Luffy (One Piece), Tony Tony Chopper **__**(One Piece), Erza Scarlet (Fairy Tail), Orochimaru (Naruto), Batman (DC comics) and Delsin Rowe (inFamous: Second Son)**_

_**I'd also like to apologise in advance to the people who chose literally half the characters. SOMEONE'S got to go out in the first round...**_


	2. Round 1 Part 1

_**The full roster is now in. There are some very interesting choices in there, I have to say. Glad to see a lot of characters I already know and enjoy writing, as well as some less familiar characters I can look into (I found out about a lot of great series thanks to Instruments, so the same could be true here…). My beta-reader has gotten back to me about Instruments now and the Psychic Jinjuuriki sequel will be up soon, so I hope I'll be able to update all three of these stories frequently. I have exams coming up at the end of May, so don't expect too many updates around then, but after that I should have plenty of free time. Anyway, on with the story!**_

"Welcome back, everyone", said the Trickster, after the four reconvened. It had been a week since they had agreed to the Trickster's suggestion of holding a tournament. In that time, the Conqueror had had his kingdom carve out the huge arena on the side of the mountain they now stood in, and the Conjuror had used his cauldron to enact a spell that would summon the various champions from their home worlds without anyone, apart from the champions themselves and the beings who summoned them, knowing who had called for their summoning (the Trickster had been very particular about that point). "I trust we're all ready for this tournament?"

"Let's get on with it", grumbled the Conjuror.

"Regretting our decisions already, are we?" said the Trickster.

"Nothing of the sort", said the Conjuror. "I just don't care for any more of your theatrics"

Conqueror looked across the arena from the high spectator box he and the others had found themselves in. The others had to admit, it was an impressive battleground, and it was almost impossible to believe it had been completed in under a week. Around the edge, the nobles of his kingdom watched from spectator boxes, not knowing what to expect when their king had announced this tournament between beings from other worlds. One spectator boxes was left empty for those who had finished their rounds to watch the ongoing battles. The arena stretched out almost 400 metres across, with a line of pillars down each side. Many of the spectators (and especially the workmen who had engaged in its construction) had wondered why the arena had needed to be this huge, but the Conqueror had insisted that this size was necessary. The audience had at least been supplied with efficient spyglasses that allowed them to see what was going on in the middle of the arena.

He stood up to make an announcement, his voice somehow carrying across the entire arena despite its massive size.

"LET THE FIRST ROUND BEGIN!"

Immediately, two spheres of light lit up in the arena, before fading to reveal the first two competitors.

At one side of the arena stood a small purple dragon with yellow horns and small yellow wings.

"Wonder who my first opponent is…", he said, looking across the arena to see a well-built man with crazy black hair in an orange gi.

"Hi there!" he said. "My name's Goku. Looks like you're my first opponent".

"Spyro", introduced the dragon.

"Are you ready?" asked Goku.

Spyro charged, head down, toward his opponent, but Goku vanished before the young dragon could reach him.

_He's fast_, thought Spyro in amazement. _I didn't even see him move…_

He looked round just in time to see Goku literally flying toward him, and leapt back just in time to dodge a kick. Spyro breathed out a wave of fire from his mouth that engulfed Goku, but it had little to no effect on him. Changing his plan, Spyro blocked a punch with his wings before letting out another blast from his mouth. This time, though, his breath took the form of an icy wave of cold. An icy shell began to form around Goku, holding him in place for the time being as Spyro charged at him again, shattering the ice and knocking Goku back a few steps, but if the orange-clad man had been harmed at all, he did a very good job not showing it.

Energy glowed blue between Goku's hands as he charged an attack. Spyro prepared himself, channelling his chi to his wings as the attack was released.

"KAMEHAMEHA!" shouted Goku, firing a huge blue beam from his hands. Spyro shielded himself with his wings, splitting the beam in two as the energy was deflected around him.

_That took a lot more energy than usual_, thought Spyro. _If he tries that again, I'm not sure how my guard will hold up._

The Conqueror watched the fight bemusedly. The dragon was putting up a better fight than he expected, but he knew the Saiyan was capable of more than he had shown.

As the beam faded, Goku flew in for another attack, but Spyro let out a huge shockwave of energy that knocked Goku back. Landing on his feet, Goku vanished again. Spyro spun round, this time expecting a highspeed attack, and leapt into the air at just the right moment to dodge a punch from Goku. Using this moment of surprise, Spyro dived headfirst onto Goku from above, the unexpected attack sending him stumbling forward a few steps before Spyro tumbled to the ground.

Goku recovered quicker than Spyro had anticipated, appearing next to Spyro and kicking him through the air. Spyro recovered in mid-air, gliding out of the way as Goku flew up nearby and tried to launch another attack, but Goku flew round in front of the small dragon before he could react and slammed him toward the ground with both hands. Spyro hit the ground hard, leaving a small crater in the arena floor. As Goku reappeared opposite him, Spyro took a chunk of rubble about the size of a fist into his mouth. Goku didn't seem to notice.

As the Saiyan flew in for another attack, Spyro spat the rock at him. Caught by surprise again, Goku was nearly knocked off his feet as the rock hit him in the head. Spyro took this chance to blast Goku with another wave of ice, but he had barely frozen his feet to the ground before Goku began powering up, his energy thawing the ice. The sheer power surrounding Goku sent Spyro flying, landing about twenty feet from Goku. As Goku began charging another Kamehameha, Spyro channelled his own power into a ball of energy in front of him. As the energy sphere met Goku's beam, the beam was initially stopped by Spyro's energy sphere. But then Goku's power began to force the sphere back, before breaking through it entirely and blasting Spyro into submission.

"AND THE WINNER IS… GOKU!"

As the crowd cheered, Goku reached out a hand to help Spyro up. "That was a good fight!" he said cheerily.

"Thanks", said Spyro, struggling to his feet.

_Kinda got the feeling you were holding back a lot_, he thought.

As the round ended, a huge spectral hourglass appeared. Spyro and Goku made their way to a currently-empty set of seats at one side of the arena.

In the highest stand, the Warrior sighed quietly. It appeared his first champion had fallen already. Spyro was a strong fighter despite his small size, but he seemed to be no match for Goku, who, he suspected, must have been summoned by the Conqueror or Conjuror. Though he was glad Spyro hadn't come to too much harm. He suspected the others to have summoned some truly merciless fighters who wouldn't hesitate to kill their opponents…

As the sands of the hourglass ran out, the illusory timepiece faded from view again, two more spheres flaring into view. As they faded, the next two champions were revealed. On one side of the arena stood a being in a bulky suit of futuristic white space armour carrying a laser pistol. All that was visible of him was a strange head resembling an earthworm with large eyes and a mouth.

On the other side of the arena, a boy in a yellow and black polo shirt and black shorts stood awkwardly, trying to remember how the strange dream-person had managed to convince him that engaging in a battle tournament was a good idea.

He had no time to think about it as a laser blast narrowly missed his left ear. He ran for cover, ducking behind a pillar.

"Whoever chose this pathetic child clearly wasn't thinking straight", said the Conqueror, watching bemusedly as the boy ran from pillar to pillar, dodging lasers. "If he has any useful powers or skills, he appears too cowardly to use them. And I certainly hope that is the case, because if he doesn't, I would be inclined to believe his patron wasn't thinking at all!"

In the midst of the Conqueror's mockery of the hapless boy, the Warrior drew a card from a pouch at his waist and recited the incantation needed to activate it under his breath. Only the Trickster saw him, grinning but saying nothing.

This fight just got interesting.

One of the interesting side effects of the spell that the Conjuror had used to summon the champions was that it allowed the one who had called for their summoning to contact them in a vision before the summoning occurred. Each champion had been told in advance that they would soon be summoned and why they had chosen them, and most of the champions took this opportunity to prepare themselves for the event to come.

Or, at least, those who hadn't simply passed the encounter off as a dream. Sadly, Charlie Brown was not amongst those who had believed this experience. As he approached another pillar, he remembered his meeting with the Warrior three days ago…

"_This tournament will be filled with not only great heroes, but insidious evil-doers as well", said the Warrior. "Whilst I have chosen to entrust my soul only to those I know will use their reward for good, I doubt the others will have such aims"._

"_But why me?" asked Charlie Brown. "Surely there are enough people out there who would wish for a good cause who can also put up a good fight?"_

"_That is true", said the Warrior. "There are many out there who would be far more sensible choices, rationally thinking. But one can't just choose the right path with their head"_

"_But what am I…" began Charlie Brown, but he was cut off._

"_Do not worry about your lack of power" said the warrior. "When the time comes…"_

Charlie Brown ran out toward the next pillar only to find that he had reached the end of the row. The worm-headed being grabbed the top of his head and pulled upwards, revealing nothing but a long, wiggly tail…

He wasn't a worm-headed being at all. He was, in fact, a worm.

The worm's suit swung him like a whip, his tail wrapping around Charlie Brown's hand, yanking him aside and to the ground in front of the suit as it put its "head" back in, pointing the gun with the other hand…

"…_I will provide you with the greatest defence I possess"_

And just at that moment, there was a flash like thunder, and a great red kiteshield appeared between Charlie Brown and the gun.

The bolt from the gun ricocheted off the shield and hit the worm in the head, blasting him out of the armour and knocking him unconscious.

"THE WINNER IS… CHARLIE BROWN!"

Charlie Brown looked up from behind the shield barely believing what he was hearing. He had won? But how?

_What did you have to go and WIN for?, _he thought to himself. _Now they're going to expect you to compete in the next round!_

He wondered for a moment whether he could take the worm's gun. Now that he had been eliminated, he wasn't going to need it, and Charlie Brown could do with all the help he could get. He cautiously reached for it and, when no objections came, he quickly pocketed it before heading over to the challenger spectator stands with Spyro and Goku. Two armoured men came and carried Jim over there as well.

In the high box, Conqueror had started laughing, and seemed to be having trouble stopping.

"That boy was one of YOUR champions, Warrior?!" he said amidst laughing. "What were you thinking giving someone like THAT your shield?!"

"I have faith in him", said the Warrior resolutely, which only made the Conqueror laugh even harder.

"I can only feel sorry for whoever chose the Earthworm", said Conqueror. "By all accounts the better fighter, bested only by your interference and dumb luck!"

The trickster only smiled. He had summoned the worm known as Jim as an easily-manipulated pawn to scout out enemy talents. Not one of his team was an obvious choice, save perhaps the super-speed hedgehog, but this boy was an odder choice than even he would dare risk. What was the Warrior up to?

He eyed the arena as the next two challengers appeared in the arena; on one side a silver-armoured figure in a green hood, on the other a man in a long brown coat carrying a bo staff. This game was going to be even more fun than he had anticipated.


	3. Round 1 Part 2

_**This will be the last chapter I post until early June. I have exams coming up and will be focussed on revising for them. After they're over, on the other hand, is another story entirely! I plan, not overambitiously I should hope, to post one new chapter every weekday from the 3**__**rd**__** of June on. And I'll be starting another new story around that time too, so I plan to assign my various stories to specific weekdays. **_

_**That's right, weekly updates on all my stories. Even Marvel vs Jump! I suddenly have ideas for it again.**_

_**I'd like to take the time to thank Tigerlover16, without whose help I probably would still be skirting round the first fight which I was having trouble starting.**_

Even in spite of the arenas questionably gargantuan size, the roar of the crowd still carried to the centre of the stage where the new competitors stood ready for battle.

The man in the brown overcoat stood calm and collected, flickering through a deck of cards. The man wore a pink shirt under his coat and carried a bo staff, attached to his hip by a strap on his jeans. He had a handsome face, with a smile that made the women swoon. But it was his eyes that drew the most attention, solid red with black pupils, and in the right light they seemed to glow. On first impression, the man known as Gambit seemed like a nice guy, a little shady perhaps with an air of ambiguity about him, but all around friendly and likeable, with a gentleman's charm.

His opponent struck a completely different vibe. Encased from head to toe in solid silver armour and draped in a regal green cloak that ended in a hood, this man was frightening beyond belief. He stood with his arms crossed, displaying himself with all the dignity and refinement you would expect from a noble king. He wore a metal mask with three indents, one around his mouth so that he could speak (though you couldn't tell he had a mouth, it was hidden in shadow) and two for his eyes... those eyes. It was a test of character just to look into them, filled with such deep hatred and greed, they were the eyes that you would expect to find on a demon rather than a man. Perhaps he was a demon, everything about him seemed evil. Even his name struck fear into the bravest of hearts: Doctor Doom.

As the crowds cheered and jeered with anticipation, the Warrior, the Conjurer, The Conqueror and the Trickster watched from the highest stand. While the Trickster cackled in anticipation, and the Conjurer and Conqueror tried to remain stoic, the Warrior took due note of Doom. With a frown and a scoff, the Warrior looked between him and Gambit, who he focused on for a minute longer. It was easy to tell from the audiences reactions that the latter was the preferred fighter. And for the sake of all that was holy, the Warrior silently prayed for his victory.

Back on the ground, Gambit pocketed all but five of his playing cards and looked over at Doom, giving the maniacal dictator a mock bow and a cheeky smile.

"It is a pleasure, monsieur Doom" Gambit said, in a thick Cajun accent. He looked up from his false bow and smiled wider "'Tis not every day a man has the chance to do battle with a king"

Doom was silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing at the Cajun. It was shocking how much of a difference such a minor action made, he looked even more formidable now.

"Savour the moment while you can, X-man" Doctor Doom began, in a regal voice with an indistinguishable European accent that commanded ones complete and utter respect "I have been observing the exploits of your team for quite some time, I know all of your strengths and weaknesses. And while you may pose a threat to many a lesser man, know that to Doom you amount to nothing more than a mere insect"

For a moment Gambit's suave expression wavered, but only for a moment. He looked over the playing cards in his hands and smirked deviously.

"Well, we'll just see about that" He said, sounding and looking quite confident. It was a farce of course. Gambit wasn't stupid, he knew exactly what he was up against here, many a more experienced hero than him had fallen at Doctor Doom's hands and only the best of them usually lived to tell the tale. If Gambit wanted any chance of winning this fight, he would have to be on his wits.

It was kind of funny, he thought to himself. When he had been approached with the offer to enter this tournament, the thought that he'd be fighting a super villain dictator never occurred to him. He just thought this might be fun, a refreshing break from the day-to-day struggle for mutant rights and such. And having a wish granted for him sounded nice, he had already put a lot of thought into what he wanted. He wasn't so arrogant to think that he'd actually get it, but certainly he couldn't let the wish go to Doom. Whatever happened afterwards, Gambit had to make sure Doctor Doom never got past this first round.

There was a moment's pause, punctuated only by the continued roar of the crowd. The two opponents waited for an announcement for them to begin the battle. When none came, Gambit realized he'd have to start things off himself.

"Right then..." He said, tightening his grip on the cards, which began to glow with a strange purple energy "Shall we dance?"

By way of an answer, Doom raised a hand, glowing before firing a huge beam of energy at his opponent.

In the audience box, Charlie Brown almost jumped out of his seat. Doom's lasers made the pistol Jim had been using against him seem downright puny.

Gambit, however, was unfazed, easily dodging the beam before throwing a hand of the glowing cards at Doom, but all of them hit a transparent blue sphere around him and exploded harmlessly.

"Is that all you can manage?" said Doom. "Predictable fireworks like those can only get you so far…"

Undeterred, Gambit ran towards Doom, vaulting from his staff just before he reached him. As he passed over Doom's head, he threw out more glowing cards, landing in a ring around the edge of Doom's forcefield, before landing atop a pillar on Doom's other side. Again the cards exploded around him, leaving him unharmed. "My turn", he said, stepping out of the cloud of dust from the explosions…

…only to see the pillar Gambit had been standing on glowing, mere moments before it detonated.

Gambit landed just outside the blast radius of the pillar he had just leapt off. The cards he had thrown around Doom's forcefield, intended to look like an attempt to throw his opponent off balance and disrupt his forcefield by breaking the ground beneath him had worked wonders in disguising his real plan of charging the pillar to explode and giving him the time to pull it off. He doubted this would be enough to defeat Doom in itself, but the damages to his armour would probably be enough to give Gambit a fighting chance of defeating him…

Seeing something in the corner of his eye, Gambit leapt back just in time to dodge a cluster of missiles aimed at him, the explosions destroying a long strip across the middle of the arena. He barely had time to duck under an electrically-charge punch from Doom the moment he landed. However Doom had managed to recover from the explosion so quickly, attacking over close range like this had been a crucial error. Gambit took the opportunity to grab Doom's armoured leg, charging it before dodging to the side from another attack and charging his shoulder plate as well. Finally, he hit Doom with his staff, accelerated with his powers, sending him flying back almost to the other side of the arena before his armour suddenly exploded.

Gambit looked around, not convinced by the opponent he just defeated. Now that he had time to think about it, Doom wouldn't have played the battle so safe at the start only to charge in recklessly after taking a hit, and for someone who claimed to know his strengths and weaknesses, he found it unlikely Doom would take the fight into close quarters when he had every opportunity to keep him at a distance.

He felt a hand grab his shoulder as he was suddenly hit with a powerful surge of electricity. He cried out in pain before Doom kicked him to the ground, unconscious.

"THE WINNER IS… DOCTOR DOOM!"

"You fought better than I expected", said Doctor Doom. "But your fate was decided the moment you were summoned for this tournament, the moment Doom became your opponent".

He raised a hand to finish his opponent off, but suddenly his arm was caught in another's grip. Doom looked round at the stranger who had grabbed his hand.

"You already have your victory", said Goku. "I won't let you kill him while he's defenceless like this".

Doom glared at the Saiyan for a few seconds, before lowering his hand. "So be it", he said, striding away towards the second empty spectator stand opposite Goku and the others. "Pray that I am as merciful when you face me later in this tournament…"

As Goku returned to his seat and Gambit was carried out of the arena, Charlie Brown felt a sense of unrelenting dread. He could be pitted against this Doom person next round. If Gambit was no match for this person, what chance did he have? And what if Goku wasn't fast enough to save him like he did the other man?

Speaking of Goku, he had a newfound respect for the Saiyan. If the information Goku had gotten before the tournament was anything like that which he had gotten, Goku had no guarantee that stepping into the ring and intervening as he had wouldn't get him disqualified immediately, but he had stepped in nonetheless.

As soon as Goku and Doom were seated, the next two challengers appeared. On Doctor Doom's side of the arena, a green-skinned man in a purple hooded robe and gloves was summoned, holding some kind of winged board. His ears and nose were pointed. At the other side, a teenage boy in a red shirt, blue shorts and a round straw hat appeared, grinning widely. The two newcomers were each immediately recognised by someone in the competitors' stands.

"Is that…" began Goku, picking up a spyglass to take a closer look. "It is! Hey Luffy, over here!"

The boy looked round. "Goku? You're in this tournament too?! This is going to be so cool!"

"I wonder if we'll see anyone else from the J-festival here" said Goku, not noticing Spyro and Charlie Brown exchanging confused looks.

"I sure hope so!" said Luffy. "It'd be awesome to see Toriko or Seiya or Naruto again, or…"

"Keep your eyes on the fight Luffy!" shouted Goku. Luffy looked back just in time to narrowly dodge a large explosion as the goblin-like flew overhead on the winged board, which turned out to be some kind of glider. He threw another orange globe toward Luffy, who reached up toward the edge of the arena, swinging himself out of the way.

"Was it just my imagination or did his arm just get longer?" asked Spyro. It was true that the stadium wall was around nine or ten feet tall, and Luffy couldn't possibly have reached it otherwise…

"You haven't seen anything yet", said Goku. "That Namekian's in for a surprise…"

As the goblin swooped down for another attack, Luffy's arm stretched back at least twenty feet behind him.

"Gum-Gum Pistol!" shouted Luffy as his fist sprang back forward, hitting the man in the face and knocking him to the ground. His glider flew away, out of the arena.

On the other side of the stadium, Doctor Doom pondered over the battle. He was certain Norman Osborn would be able to handle this young upstart, but it interested him that another with Reed Richards' powers would appear so early in the tournament. This boy may be worth looking into, assuming the Green Goblin didn't kill him. Either way, his body could be useful to study…

"You certainly pack a punch", cackled the Goblin as he got back to his feet. "But the Green Goblin doesn't go down so easily".

He reached for something else out of a shoulder bag, but before he could take the new weapon out, Luffy was right next to him, about to punch him in the face again. The goblin dodged the attack before grabbing Luffy by the neck and activating the deadly electrical charges in his gloves, but the electricity seemed to have no effect on the pirate whatsoever.

"That won't work", said Luffy. "'Cause I'm made of rubber!"

The Goblin only laughed again, reaching up and catching his glider as it flew past and swinging round on top of it. Luffy's arm stretched out again as he reached for the glider, but the Green Goblin caught his wrist and swung him up into the air before flying up toward him, blades emerging from the front of the glider. Luffy barely managed to spin himself around in mid-air to avoid being impaled, but as he flew past, the Goblin beat him to the ground with one hand with more force than Luffy had expected. As Luffy hit the ground, the Goblin threw a handful of tiny jack-o-lanterns down around him. Before Luffy could even get back to his feet, they detonated all around him in an enormous explosion.

"Wow, those things pack more of a punch than I expected", said Luffy, getting back to his feet, the smoke and flames dying down around the same time as the Green Goblin's laughter. "What are those anyway?" He looked across the arena at his opponent properly for the first time and jumped. "You're… you're a goblin! That's so cool!"

"You're a lot more durable than I would have expected", said the Green Goblin, regaining his composure quickly as he walked over to Luffy. He swung a punch at Luffy, but Luffy caught his arm.

"Gum-gum…" began Luffy, his arm stretching back as the Green Goblin pulled his arm free. As his glider flew over to him, the goblin jumped in time to land on it.

"PISTOL!" shouted Luffy, his fist snapping back and hitting the glider, the force of his punch almost tearing the metal board in two. The Green Goblin quickly leapt off the ruined glider towards the rubber man, but Luffy was too quick.

"GATLING GUN!" he added, launching a barrage of punches at blinding speed. The impacts sent the Goblin flying back and crashing into one of the few remaining pillars as his mask disintegrated.

"Hey, you're not really a goblin at all!" said Luffy, looking disappointed as the Green Goblin tried to struggle back to his feet, but collapsed.

"AND THE WINNER IS… MONKEY D. LUFFY!"

_Against someone like this, it will be easier to win this tournament from outside it… _thought Norman Osborn, feigning unconsciousness. He remembered the item he had in his pocket. The Trickster hadn't been too specific in describing how it worked, but he was sure what he had in mind would be within its capabilities…

There was more than one way to win this thing…


End file.
